This week on the Democracy that Delivers podcast, President of the Organization of Women in International Trade Andrea Ewart talks about why trade matters. Below she further elaborates on the conversation and gives a few key reasons why. Listen to the podcast here:

For the sixth consecutive year, internet freedom throughout the world has continued to decline. Although efforts to close the digital divide by bringing more people online has continued, 67%, or two-thirds of all internet users, fear the unprecedented penalties from living in countries with high levels of censorship. According to Freedom House’s latest report, Freedom on the Net Report 2016, Estonia, Iceland, and Canada are the most open countries when it comes to internet freedom, while China, Syria, and Iran are the most restrictive.

The 2016 report gathered information from 65 countries, measuring each individual country’s level of internet and digital freedom by using a variety of indicators. Since 2015, Turkey and Brazil have continued to move away from internet freedom, and just 14 countries registered overall improvements from the previous year.

Every year hundreds of people come together for the Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) in Development Tech Conference. The MERL Tech Conference – this year hosted in Washington, D.C.— brings together practitioners, from a number of international development sectors, to exchange ideas on innovative ways to use technology to collect, analyze, and use data. My colleague, CIPE Senior Evaluation Officer Denise Baer, and I attended the conference in search of ideas of how to best handle the “responsible data” CIPE collects from its partners. We also partnered with representatives from Sonjara, The Engine Room, and Reboot to co-lead a conference session entitled “The Lifecycle of Responsible Data.”

In this week’s Democracy that Delivers podcast, CIPE Board member Claude Fontheim talks about how the rule of law, transparency, and good governance underpin strong, inclusive development. Fontheim explains that investment alone is not enough and says that support for public institutions is needed to ensure that the benefits of trade and economic growth reach all segments of society. He further discusses the direct link between development around the world and U.S. national security interests.

During the episode, Fontheim also talks about how U.S. companies contribute to the good governance of countries they invest in, and how they partner with NGOs and civil society to support initiatives in sectors such as health, education, and women’s rights.

Fontheim also discusses his early work with the Democratic Leadership Council and how he was inspired by Bill Clinton’s vision of “globalization with a human face.” He also shares how his family’s experience during the Holocaust shaped his world view and generated his interest in the forces that knit societies together and create peace.

Developing countries tend to experience higher costs to trade and are ill-equipped to navigate through the mire of international border requirements. The World Trade Organization (WTO) established the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in part to address this very challenge.

The TFA is unique in several respects, as it was the first multilateral trade agreement set forth by the WTO, and it was intentionally designed to make cross-border trade easier for developing countries. Once fully implemented, it is estimated that the TFA will reduce trade costs by up to 15 percent for developing countries and increase global merchandise exports by up to $1 trillion annually by increasing customs efficiency and cutting red tape that impedes the efficient flow of goods at the border.

Women from the Papua New Guinea Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry participating in a capacity building workshop

Since its creation in 1983, CIPE has been working with business associations, chambers of commerce and economic think tanks around the world to promote institutional reforms and advance economic and political empowerment.

Women business associations are one type of business associations that CIPE has partnered with in order to support the economic empowerment of women. Recognizing the unique role such organizations play, CIPE has focused on strengthening women business associations and thus empowering women to become entrepreneurs and leaders in their local communities and countries.

On September 16, 2016, CIPE hosted a panel discussion on the need for rapid response in countries where a significant opportunity has appeared for achieving anti-corruption progress. CIPE’s Rapid Reaction Anti-Corruption Project is designed to address this need by deploying a team of anti-corruption experts with international stature to countries in transition. The experts, with NGO, business, and law enforcement backgrounds, would be swiftly deployed to countries which have governments newly empowered to address corruption, and a strong economic interest from foreign firms previously repelled by corruption risk.

Today’s podcast is a recording of the event at which experts discussed corruption challenges and practical solutions. The event was opened by CIPE Managing Director Andrew Wilson [then Executive Director (acting)] and was moderated by Chrstian Caryl, Editor of the Foreign Policy Democracy Lab blog.

Panel speakers included President of the National Endowment for Democracy Carl Gershman; Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for National Peace Sarah Chayes, and author of Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security Sarah Chayes; and CIPE Program Officer for Ukraine, Russia and Central Asia Eric Hontz.

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The CIPE Development Blog provides coverage of the Center for International Private Enterprise and its partner network at work -- highlighting successes, drawing out lessons from failure, and exploring the broader issues of political and economic development. For more information visit CIPE.org.